Censorship

New Yorker June 1 Cover Shows Excludes Black, Female GOP Candidates
By Tom Blumer | May 28, 2015 | 8:31 PM EDT

Old stereotypes die hard — especially the ones which have long been false.

The June 1 cover of The New Yorker Magazine depicts the Republican Party's current crop of declared and undeclared 2016 presidential candidates as an all-white-boys affair, showing seven of them in different locker-room postures, with Hillary Clinton peeping in through a window. How is this possible, you ask? Where are Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina? Obviously, presenting a segregated, chauvinistic image of the GOP is more important than dealing with reality (HT Patterico):

AP's Superville Fails to Report Obama's Claim That 'Our War in Afghanistan' Is Over
By Tom Blumer | May 25, 2015 | 4:58 PM EDT

Today at Arlington Cemetery, President Obama said — not kidding — "For many of us, this Memorial Day is especially meaningful; it is the first since our war in Afghanistan came to an end." He immediately added: "Today is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that the United States is not engaged in a major ground war."

At the White House's twitter account, one finds the first of those two sentences in a tweet — but not the second. Of course, Darlene Superville at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, cleaned it all up to avoid nationally embarrassing the wire service's beloved president (bolds are mine):

'SNL' Awkwardly Notes (Not Mocks) Fear of Drawing Muhammad
By Tim Graham | May 10, 2015 | 3:40 PM EDT

NBC's Saturday Night Live awkwardly made fun of things you just cannot depict at risk of death. In a TV game show called Picture Perfect -- that looked a little like Pictionary and a little like NBC's own Hollywood Game Night -- cast member Bobby Moynihan (complete with Chris Farley-esque hair) was asked to draw an image of "The Prophet Muhammad."

"Hilarity" ensued when he and fellow cast member Kenan Thompson (playing actor Reginald VelJohnson of Die Hard and Family Matters) refused to comply and risk being murdered by jihadists:

Politifact Rules Chris Cuomo's First Amendment Claims Were 'False'
By Curtis Houck | May 8, 2015 | 5:02 PM EDT

The reliably liberal Politifact (through its Punditfact site) surprisingly took CNN’s New Day co-host Chris Cuomo took task on Thursday for his rather suspect claim on Twitter from Wednesday that “hate speech is excluded from protection” under the First Amendment. Through its Punditfact site, Politifact’s Lauren Carroll noted his numerous attempts to clarify his remarks and citations of case law, but still came to the conclusion that Cuomo’s original statement was “false.”

AP Tweet: Pamela Geller ‘Has No Regrets’ About ‘Cartoon Contest That Ended in 2 Deaths’
By Curtis Houck | May 8, 2015 | 1:40 AM EDT

In a tweet from the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday evening, the AP charged that American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) President Pamela Geller had “no regrets” about holding a Prophet Mohammad “cartoon contest” in Texas Sunday “that ended in 2 deaths” in the form of two Islamic extremists shot by security as they tried to carry out a terrorist attack.

CNN's Cuomo Dubiously Claims: 'Hate Speech is Excluded from Protection'
By Matthew Balan | May 6, 2015 | 11:44 AM EDT

CNN's Chris Cuomo made an eyebrow-raising argument about the First Amendment in a Wednesday post on Twitter. Cuomo replied to a post that decried that "too many people are trying to say hate speech (isn't equal to) free speech," and claimed that "it doesn't. hate speech is excluded from protection. don't (sic) just say you love the constitution...read it."

CNN's Berman Wonders If Muhammad Cartoon Group is 'Looking for More Violence'
By Matthew Balan | May 5, 2015 | 3:50 PM EDT

On Tuesday's At This Hour, CNN's John Berman wondered if American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which organized the Muhammad cartoon conference that was attacked by two Islamists on Sunday, was only provoking more terrorist violence by planning to hold similar events in the future. Berman asked AFDI vice president Robert Spencer, "By holding more events, then, I suppose you could continue to say, are you looking for more violence to keep on making this point?"

NBC Declines to Label Gunmen in TX Terror Shooting ‘Islamic Extremists’ or 'Terrorists'
By Curtis Houck | May 5, 2015 | 1:20 AM EDT

In covering the failed terrorist attack at a Prophet Mohammad cartoon event in Texas, NBC neglected to describe the two gunmen on Monday evening as “Islamic extremists” or “terrorists,” while ABC, CBS, and NBC prominently touted the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) description of AFDI as an “anti-Muslim” or “anti-Islamic” “hate group.”

Matthews and Guest Blame the Victim: AFDI 'Caused' or At Least 'Incited' Attack in Garland, Texas
By Ken Shepherd | May 4, 2015 | 10:25 PM EDT

Taking a classic blame-the-victim posture on his May 4 Hardball program, host Chris Matthews joined terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann in blaming The American Freedom Defense Initiative for the would-be terror attack at the Garland, Texas, event on Sunday.

CNN Touts 'Hate Group' Claim Against Group Targeted in Texas Attack
By Matthew Balan | May 4, 2015 | 5:31 PM EDT

On Monday's New Day, CNN's Alisyn Camerota played up how the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the group targeted by two suspected Islamists in Texas a "hate group." Camerota underlined that "other people say" that Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) is "even a hate group, and that they're vehemently anti-Islam....They talk about Islam, and they talk about it with, sort of, real repugnance, quite frankly."

MSNBC’s Roberts Lets SPLC’s Potok Compare AFDI to Klan
By Jeffrey Meyer | May 4, 2015 | 3:18 PM EDT

In the wake of an attempted mass shooting at a free speech event hosted by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) in Texas, on Monday MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts hosted Mark Potok of the far left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and allowed him to equate them with a “Klan group that decides to hold a cartoon contest satirizing black people.” 

Networks on Texas Shooting: Event Hosted By 'Notorious' 'Anti-Muslim Group'
By Scott Whitlock | May 4, 2015 | 12:19 PM EDT

After armed gunmen opened fire at a free speech event in Texas on Sunday, all three networks on Monday chided the sponsor organization as "notorious" or "controversial." The American Freedom Defense Initiative created a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad and while ABC's Good Morning America covered the details of the attack, co-host George Stephanopoulos wondered: "How about the event itself? The organizers said it was organized to take a stand for free speech. Is it fair, also, to call it anti-Muslim?"